Sixty-three hours of required substantive and skills-based courses, plus 27 hours of elective course work, including at least three credits of a clinical program.

Clinical Programs

Cooley believes students immersed in a dynamic, hands-on learning environment study and understand the law more fully and are better prepared to serve their clients.

Cooley requires a minimum of three credit hours in a clinical experience. Students may apply for clinic courses once they have accumulated 40 credit hours.

Cooley Clinics

• Sixty Plus, Inc. Elderlaw Clinic
  Are you 60 or older and have a legal problem or need legal information?
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• Estate Planning Clinic
• Innocence Project
• Family Law Assistance Project (FLAP)
• Washtenaw Public Defender Clinic
• Access to Justice Clinic
• Public Sector Law Project

Externship Program

Externships are learning opportunities for students placed with lawyers and judges who have agreed to provide a mentored learning environment.

Student externs receive classroom training from faculty members in addition to supervision and evaluation by their attorney mentor.

Students work in a selected legal environment away from the law school. Students will receive academic credit for their work when they meet all of the educational objectives of the externship and satisfy all of the program requirements.

Interested in Becoming a Field Supervisor?

• Field Supervisor Information

AALS Publications

Students have the option of participating in one of the following Clinics:

	Sixty Plus, Inc., Elderlaw Clinic Cooley's two term in-house, live-client clinic, which provides free legal assistance to elderly residents of Ingham, Eaton, and Clinton counties.
	The Estate Planning Clinic A one-term live client clinic, available for evening and weekend students.
	Cooley Innocence Project Helps secure the release of wrongfully imprisoned persons.
	Family Law Assistance Project (FLAP) A two-term clinic in which students represent low-income people in family law and domestic violence matters in Oakland County Circuit Court.
	Washtenaw County Public Defender Cooley's blended clinic, where students handle a wide variety of defense work, from misdemeanors to felonies.
	Access to Justice Clinic A two-term clinic in which students provide general, civil legal services to clients referred by the Legal Assistance Center at the Kent County Courthouse. Most of the clients have family law issues, however, clients may also have property issues, consumer law issues, or a variety of other civil legal issues.
	Public Sector Law Project A one-term clinic where students provide civil legal services of a transactional, advisory, legislative or systemic nature to government clients in management or elected office. The clinic is currently partnered with Kent County, Michigan, and is designed to accommodate the schedules of evening and weekend students.